Notes on Afghanistan

Map courtesy of the CIA

Afghanistan as a country was a political fiction created by the British and the Russians. Now it is a puppet state maintained by the United States with the aid of their vassals and mercenaries. Afghanistan is made up of at least 4 separate areas and whose people speak 44 different languages. The southern half of Afghanistan is the northern half of Pashtunistan the other half was made into part of Pakistan by the British. The Northwest of Afghanistan is actually half of Khorasan Persia, which was partitioned by the British. The dominant city in this region is Herat, which is a historical center of Persian civilization. The center highland is the Hazarajat, the land of the Hazara. The Hazara are a separate people with a distinct ethnicity, look, and religion. The North is the southern section of Turkestan. The dominant city is Mazar-I-Sheriff which is predominantly Uzbek.

Afghanistan is located in Southwestern Asia. In the west is the Islamic Republic of Iran, South and southeast is Pakistan, in the north Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and the eastern most part borders China.

Afghanistan is divided by steep mountains and is very hot in summer and equally cold in winter. Of the seven North-south passes through the Hindu Kush are navigable in winter.

It is a rugged, mountainous country with cold winters and hot summers. Measuring 647,500 square km it is almost the size of the State of Texas. The country is very poor with only a few miles of railroads, no navigable waterways, no ports and the people are primarily small farmers and herders, Until the war there was a small (1% +-) Hindi merchant class but they appear to be mostly gone in the wake of Taliban.

Just a note on the United States and Taliban: A significant number of US Officials supported Taliban and actively campaigned to recognize the Taliban as the Government of Afghanistan. I clearly remember how strongly Roberta Chew of the US Department of State supported recognition of Taliban up until at least 1998.

The People:

Afghanistan has almost 26 million people. The primary languages are Dari and then Pashto.

Pashtun

About 9,500,000 are Pashtuns. Of that group the majority are Western Pashtun with the rest primarily Eastern Pashtun or Pathan. The Pashtun are predominantly at least nominally Hanafi Moslem but of that group there is a rapid spread to a heretical pseudo-Moslem sect promulgated by Taliban. (This population estimate may be a bit since people who favor Taliban or any Pashtun Government tend to inflate this number to justify Pashtun aggression on their neighbors.)

Tadjik

The next largest group is the Tadjiks numbering about 6,500,000. The Tadjiks are overwhelmingly orthodox Hanafi Sunni Moslems. Included in this group is the large Farsiwan population in the Herat area. The Tadjik population is the descendents of the original pre-Turkic, pre-Dravidian population of Afghanistan.

Hazara

Almost 5 million are Hazara. The Hazara are an ethno-linguistically distinct people who trace their roots back to the slave women of Cingis Qan's army. They bear a physical resemblance to their Mongolian ancestors but speak a language called Hazaragi, which is most similar to classical Persian before the Cingissid era. The majority is Shia Moslem then Ismaili Moslem and a smaller group who are Hanafi Sunni Moslem. The Sunni Moslem are harder to distinguish because they are of the same religion as their non-Hazara neighbors they assimilate and are often counted in with other groups such as Aimaks.

Uzbek

US Government sources place the Uzbek population at about 1,500,000 people. I have a problem with this figure in that it seems low. Nonetheless the Uzbek are the dominant people of Northern Afghanistan. The north or Afghan Turkistan as it is sometimes called was taken by the Uzbeks from the Timurids in 1500 to 1510 and has been overwhelmingly Uzbek ever since. Uzbek is a language in the Altaic language family and is akin to Turkish and the various Turkic and Turkmen languages.

Miscellaneous Ethno-Linguistic groups in Afghanistan.

Aimaq

Kizilbash

The Kizilbash are the descendents of the Afshar guard of Nader Shah Afshari. After the death of Nader the Kizilbash fled to Afghanistan and to this day represent an important part of the Afghan upper class. This despite the fact that they are Shia Moslem.

Baluch

Government (or lack there of.)

The last legitimate Government of Afghanistan was the Rabanni Government that officially was called the "Islamic State of Afghanistan". Taliban has attempted to create the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan". However no civilized country recognizes this rogue criminal terrorist organization.

Recent Governments

King Amanullah 1919 - 1929
Removed from office by Bacha-i Saqao a Takik Freedom Fighter.
Nadir Shah defeated Bacha-i Saqao and ruled from October 1929 until 1933 when he was assasinated by a Kabul student.
Mohammed Zahir Shah ruled from 1933 to 1973 when he was deposed by his cousin Prince Sardar Mohammed Daoud.
Prince Sardar Mohammed Daoud. Headed a pro-Communist republic1973 - 1978. April 27 – 28 1978 Daoud was overthrown by the Soviet backed PDPA
Nur Mohammed Turaki secretary of the PDPA became President and Prime Minister. April 1978
Sept 1970 Hafizullah Amin replaced Turaki after a palace shoot out.
December 24, 1979 The Russians seize the airports. The Russians killed Amin on December 26th and installed Babrak Karmal as Prime Minister. Karmal was of the Parcham faction of the Communist party. On December 27th the Soviets launched the major invasion of Afghanistan which amounted to about 120,000 men. The Parcham faction of the Communist Party was predominantly Ghilzai Pashtun.
American Embassy in Kabul closed January 1989
Feb. 15, 1989, Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan
Kabul fell to Taliban Sept. 27, 1996
Taliban flees Kabul on Tuesday, November 13, 2001

Rugs and carpets:

James Taylor of the embassy in Kabul was the First US official to witness the Soviet invasion. Rubin, Barry Secrets of State. Page 195 (Bob Fritz at the Persian Carpet may have been the first American.).

Tabriz-Rugs

Tabriz-Rugs & Carpets

Notes on Afghanistan

Map courtesy of the CIA

The People:

Government (or lack there of.)

Rugs and carpets:

Index

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B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z